Catch Them if you Can
by Alan Parseltongue
Summary: Three young children whose parents were taken from them live happily with their carettaker, Riccio.


Catch Them If You Can  
  
Prologue  
January 5, 2000  
It was a cold Saturday morning. Elliot Fox slid across the wooden floors in his socks. Sarah Fox loudly practiced her contrabassoon, while tyler Fox had his eyes glued to the Saturday morning cartoons. A loud crashing and exploding noise came booming from outside, a noise so loud that it shattered two of the inside windows. Water gushed through the cracks in their ceiling. The noise was so loud that it made even the sound of Sarah's contrabassoon inaudible. The TV burst into flames, and Tyler leapt up of of the recliner he was lounging on. The Fox parents, though, were nowhere to be found. Everyone stopped what they were doing to go gaze out the holes where windows were supposed to be to stare at the mass of glass and wood that was scattered all over the front lawn. Young Elliot scoured the house to find his parents, but he found later that they were not there.  
Chapter one  
May 27, 2004  
It was a rather warm day in the outskirts of the town Sunday Village, where the Fox family lived. Tyler had an urge to go outside to catch butterflies and put them in a jar, which Sarah highly objected. Elliot Fox was cooped up inside his room, on the computer, finishing his production of a PC game called " Battlestar." Sarah Fox was on the porch outside, practicing the violin. Their parents had left them four years ago. Tyler was four, Elliot was nine, and Sarah was ten. Of course, now, they were four years older, which you could figure out if you can do proper additions and subtractions. They were being taken care of by a man named Riccio Arezim, who seemed plenty nice, but had his moments every once in a while. School had ended the previous day, and everyone except Elliot was happy. Elliot always had his nose buried in a book or his eyes glued to the computer screen. He was very smart, though, which always worked to the family's advantage. Sarah was a music freak, who wouldn't be caught dead without an instrument in her hand. Tyler was a very loud child, who screamed constantly for no reason and made Riccio very mad. He had lightly cut down on the screaming because he knocked Elliot's computer off of his desk, which resulted in Elliot tying him up in his closet. Riccio bought Elliot a new, better computer.  
They lived in a very big house that had a 6-car garage, three kitchens, five bathrooms, six bedrooms, and tons of other useless rooms. The damage from the time their parents were supposedly kidnapped was repaired, and the house looked better than ever. They hadn't yet found out anything about their parents, although they planned to investigate in later days. But now, for all they knew, their parents were and would remain missing. For the past 4 years, they had planned on sneaking out of the house to go find their parents which they knew would never happen. They had one dog, Eli, who they took great care of. After all, all the other animals had run away.  
Riccio walked into the kitchen with the intercom and shouted," Kids, hurry up and get ready! We are going to go to the second showing of the opera, ' Faust!' Get your best clothes, and be hasty, please! I don't want to die I do not want the ticketholder to have to give us seating after the opera has begun !" The kids scrambled into their clothes. They all knew good and well that Sarah was the only one excited about going. The eldest kids also knew that somehow Tyler would ruin everything, of course.  
When they got to the opera that night, Sarah and Elliot were surprised to find that Tyler did not ruin anything, of course, Sarah had to put her hand over Tyler's mouth a few times. It featured a great big red devil and two very fat people. Sarah kept her eyes on the entire show. When it was finally over, they went to a fancy Italian food place, where Tyler tripped a waitress and splattered food all over the many chandeliers and ceiling fans.  
They went into their house that night to find a single slip of paper idling on the floor. All it said was, ' I know where your parents are, but you aren't going to be able to find me. Sincerely, S.L." The children pondered what the note might mean for the rest of the night, wondering what kinds of troubles awaited them in the next day. They all went to bed that night sobbing.  
CHAPTER 2- Ends and Beginnings  
The children rose very early the next morning, their eyes swelled up from all the crying. Riccio, who did not bring the children breakfast like he usually did, seemed much more ominous today. He usually woke up early, but today, he got up late. For reasons unknown to the children, he went into the kitchen and began to hit the pots and pans together. He seemed rather frantic about the note, for he pranced around the house staring at it. Riccio perspired buckets and yelled constantly. The children behaved oddly that day, also. Sarah did not lay her hands on an instrument all day, she sat in her room staring at the ceiling. Elliot didn't type one word on the keyboard or read one word of a book. Tyler did not speak all day.  
" We have to find our parents," Sarah said via the two-way radio in her room that she talked to Elliot with. " I'm having my doubts that Riccio is a good guy." Elliot spoke uncertainly.  
" Oh, I-I'm sure he is, he's just a little strange today. Just give him a chance, he'll, er, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, yes, he'll calm down. We all have, oh gosh, what is the word I want?"  
Sarah gasped through the radio. " Idiosyncrasies?" she said. " My Lord, Elliot, you must be really down today! I've never seen you not be able to think of a word! Anyway, we've got to come up with a plan. We'll sneak out and find them. Tomorrow. We haven't time to waist. Riccio doesn't have to find out. He'll probably have run away by tomorrow anyway, the way he's acting!" Elliot laughed slightly.  
" You're probably right, but how can we come up with a plan without him finding out? Of course, it might be easy, he's the thickest headed person I know, besides Tyler. Okay, what we'll do is we'll-" Elliot dropped the radio. A big pair of whitish hands wrapped around Elliot's neck.  
" Elliot? Elliot? Are you there?" said Sarah from the radio.  
" How dare you insult me like that?" Riccio screamed through gritted teeth.  
" Oh, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about a different Riccio!" Riccio tightened his grip around Elliot's neck, screamed with rage, then let go.  
" Mind your attitude, Fox, or I'll hang you from the door knocker by your toes!" Riccio slammed the door behind him.  
" What was that all about?" asked Sarah, who had been listening in on the whole thing.  
" I don't know, but we better stop talking about him like that."  
" Okay," said Sarah," I have a plan. We will wake up at about- 4-ish. We'll all meet in the TV room and find an escape route. We'll then go grab up all of our belongings. If we see Riccio, we'll meet up in my room and formulate another plan. We'll go down the stairs, making the least amount of noise possible. Then we'll dash out the door, leaving Riccio and our home behind."  
" But what'll we do with Eli?" Elliot asked. Sarah pondered the question.  
" Well, we can't take him, because three children with no parents and a dog would gather too much suspicion. People would think we were hoboes!" Elliot laughed and then sighed.  
" Just the thought of doing all this is all Greek to me," Elliot said." I never thought we'd ever have to do something like this, I didn't think we'd ever lose our parents in the first place." They both remained silent for a moment, ashamed of feeling so sorry for themselves. '' Oh, Sarah, I have an idea!" Elliot said, now more in the moment. " Couldn't we meet tonight at about midnight, or whenever Riccio goes to sleep, and then escape at that time?"  
"No," said Sarah," I think it would be better after we have had more sleep, in the morning."  
The children had many thoughts in their heads that afternoon. Later they told Tyler, who cried at the fact of leaving everything. Of course, that night, they didn't get one wink of sleep, as you probably wouldn't if you were formulating a major escape plan. Riccio did not find out about their plan. But there was something that Riccio was hiding from them, just like the thing that they were hiding from him. You see, he too was planning an escape that night. He too had caught the abandoning fever. So the next morning, they all caught the drift of each other's plan to leave the house.  
" YOU FOOLS!" Riccio screamed. " I wrote that note the other night! I do know where your parents are! I am the one that took them away, but I'll never, ever tell where they are! I'm going! Catch me if you can, you fool children!" And at that moment, the helicopter that they had seen four years ago, the one that had ruined so much of their lives, appeared at the window. The one person that withheld the information that they desired was leaving forever, never to come back . Though it was the end of this part of their lives, it was the beginning of an even bigger part of their lives: To find their parents and get them back.  
The Start of a Journey  
" I'm cold," said Tyler Fox as the children set out of the house on their journey," I'm not going. We have had way to much to put up with in our lives, not to mention Riccio leaving. Now you expect me to leave, and become homeless? Honestly, guys, this is your dumbest idea yet!" Elliot smiled at the intelligent content of Tyler's sentence.  
" Look," said Sarah," I know that you don't want to leave everything behind, but don't you want to find our parents? Don't you want to return to a normal child's life? It may not seem smart, but it is really the most important thing we'll ever do." The children had walked a long way now, almost a mile." I need to go into the city and get money out of the bank for food and other things."  
" Will we be able to stay in hotels?" asked Elliot.  
" I'm afraid we won't be able to in this area, at least. You have to be over 21 to get a room in this part of the state. We'll just have to make camps somewhere, or stay with mom and dad's friends." The children reached the city momentarily. First they went to the bank. "Don't mom and dad have a detective friend here in the city?" Sarah asked.  
" Yes," said Tyler, " His name is Spurlock Nolmes."  
" We should go talk to him," said Sarah. They went into GriftBay grocery store and asked for directions. They took what seemed like hundreds of streets down to the office of Spurlock Nolmes. They walked quietly into the building.  
It was a cold, dank hallway that led to a cold, dank office. There were nails idling t on the ground, strange whispering noises coming from somewhere that the children couldn't identify. Finally they reached it: A door with shattered plate-glass windows and an unpolished brass doorknocker. Sarah hesitated to knock o the door, but then a giant spider quickly made her change her mind. She knocked at the door, frightened by the whispers. She began to feel like she was in an old black and white 50's movie. She knocked again and got no reply. Once more she knocked, and then-  
" I'M WITH A CLIENT!" boomed a loud, hoarse voice. Elliot looked through the broken window and discovered that the whispers were coming from Spurlock Nolmes office; He was talking to his client. The person sitting in the chair got up and stepped out the door.  
" Tyler, no, don't just go in-" began Sarah. Nolmes answered the door. He was a very tall man with a pale complexion and an eyepatch. His face showed hate, madness, goofy happiness, and rage all in the same frown. He wore a green- yes, green- trenchcoat and wore a pink- yes, pink- top hat. Tyler found it great fun to see a rather fat man with an eyepatch, top hat , and green clothing.  
" What do you want, and why are you here? Children aren't supposed to be here," said the hoarse voice that they had heard previously with a goofy Brooklyn accent. He had a strange speaking manner, like that of an Italian Mafia member. " Wait, youse look familiar," he said. " Oh! You are the Fox kids! Why didn't youse just say so? Come in, have some champagne!"  
" Um, sir-"  
" I know, I know, underage drinking is illegal in this part of the state. Come in, have some orange juice!" He poured some orange juice out of a broken wine bottle." Where are your parents? How is they doin'?"  
" W- we haven't seen our parents in four years, sir," said Elliot.  
" What? You're tellin' me that they disappeared? What are youse gonna do about it?"  
" That's kind of why we're here, sir," began Elliot." You see, we were being taken care of by a person named Riccio Arezim, and just a few hours ago, he left the house in a helicopter. We want you to put a man on the case."  
" I'm afraid- I can't do that."  
" Why on earth not?"  
" I-I'm the only one who works here, and if I left, I wouldn't be able to help anyone. I mean, people are always comin' here with all sorts of dumb problems, homeless dis' and hungry dat'."  
" You lazy oaf! You could have someone replace you for the time being!"  
" But I'm the only one who can do this job in the city! And don' be callin' me dat', because it can really get to a man's heart." Elliot boiled in rage. He shook and steamed at the sight of this unhelpful man. He reached across the desk and punched him in the face. " Get out of this office, right now," Spurlock mumbled, rubbing his face in pain.  
They stopped by Charms & Roble's bookstore and talked.  
" Elliot, how dare you get us kicked out of there!" Sarah yelled under her breath, because it would be disrespectful to yell in a bookstore, although she felt like yelling.  
" It is his fault!" he yelled in a sotto voice. " If he would have just cooperated, we wouldn't be in this predicament! He's a fool, and he knows it! Plus, I've never in all my years heard such horrible grammar!"  
" You fool! He was the one most important connection for us to find our parents, and you had to be a wiseacre, you had to ruin everything!" She sighed and then said to Elliot," Go get me coffee."  
" But I haven't got any-"  
" Just get me some coffee!" she yelled, and handed Elliot a ten- dollar bill. Yes, coffee there did cost ten dollars a cup. Elliot came back with some sort of swiss Frapuccino. Sarah snatched it from his hand. She took a Ziploc bag out of her purse ,poured the Frapuccino in, and stuffed the bag back in her purse. " Let's go," she said, " We have to much to do to sit here stalling." Elliot begged for ten dollars to go buy a book that looked interesting, called " Deadly Demons, Poisonous Plants, and Feral Fowls, A Guide to the Great Outdoor." Elliot promised that it would help them on their journey. They left the store, all of them teary eyed, and for the last time looked around at the city and left their only home.  
A Journey Delayed  
The children finally made their way out of the city out onto the horizon. The nearest town was called Westmark, and even it was 50 miles away. They decided that they would take small breaks every now and then, rationing the small bit of water that Elliot packed in his backpack. They knew that they would not be able to make it to Westmark in one day, so they had packed supplies necessary for making a camp.  
" What is that out of the horizon?" Elliot said, panicking. " It looks like people!" They decided that it was people, riding on mopeds. " Help! Help! Could you ride us into Westmark, please?" There were three men, each taller than the last.  
" How convenient, there are three of them!" One of them said.  
" What?" asked Sarah. Each man grabbed one child and took off on the mopeds. They took the children quite a way out into the gap between Sunday Village and Westmark. Finally, they were stuffed into a cave and tied up.  
" Okay, boss, we've got another catch!" yelled one with horrible teeth and a black eye. The person who was apparently the boss stood up.  
" What are their names?" he asked.  
" Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!" Another one of them snarled.  
" Wh-what?" screamed Elliot." You're cannibals?" The one with horrible teeth replied, waving a knife at Elliot.  
" Quiet,lunch," he breathed through gritted teeth. The boss grabbed at their backpacks and dug out some of the supplies. Elliot's fire starting wood was one of the supplies, unfortunately. The boss hit the two pieces of wood together, creating a spectacular fire.  
" Milo, hand me that." He gestured to a small cup on the rock-crafted shelves. It was a cup, a regular cup, that didn't appear to have anything in it. " I think this is the right one." The boss smiled a horrible, sinister smile and poured the cup of nothing into the fire. It became that it wasn't nothing, it was a clear liquid. " You fool, Milo, this isn't the right one!" The fire became less and less, then more, terribly more, and the pile of wood in an instant became a mesh of evil and leaping flames. The cave illuminated, and the supposed cannibals ran towards the exit of the cave.  
" Oh, no!" yelled Sarah, " What will we do?" Elliot squirmed.  
" I have a plan, don't worry!" Elliot wiggled more, and then fell head first towards the fire. With his teeth, he clenched the knife that Milo had discarded. He somehow sprang up, back at the wall, and put his hands as far out as the ropes would allow them. He unclenched his teeth and the knife dropped into his hands. He worked for many long minutes to cut the bindings. Finally, they came undone and fell off of Elliot and into the flames, which were now growing, and fast.  
" Hurry, Elliot! The flames are getting bigger!" Sarah cried. Elliot sawed away at Sarah's bindings, and then Tyler's. They stepped along the trail of burned wood and ran from the cave. " Oh," Sarah gasped," Elliot, they raided our bags!" but Sarah knew that there was nothing they could do. They set out down the long road to the village of Westmark.  
Westmark  
Along the grueling road into Westmark, the children remembered something. Their dog, Eli, was at the house all by himself.  
" I have an idea, I think," said Sarah. " The cannibals left their mopeds by the cave, right? Well, I figure if I can go get one of them, I can bring one back for you and Tyler, if you'd like, and I can ride back home and get Eli." Elliot frowned.  
" No, that is to much trouble. How about you get that Nolmes guy to do it? In Westmark, we can call his office and tell him to take care of Eli." Tyler spoke for the first time in a while.  
" But Elliot, you punched him in the face, he's surely not going to help us after all that!"  
" But we could still try, couldn't we? And since we have a phone book-"  
" No," said Sarah," Remember, they raided our bags, and the cave is probably on fire. I'm afraid the only choice is for me to go back to the house and get him." Elliot reluctantly agreed with Sarah, and he and Tyler said farewell to Sarah.  
They reached Westmark about four hours later. It was a very big town, compared to Sunday Village. There were many more people out on the streets, and the buildings looked friendlier and less dark. They decided that they would wait for Sarah in the village, but if it took more than one day that they would have to make camp some where or stay in a homeless shelter ( which is probably a very bad place for young children, but after all, they were homeless).  
As they walked down the street, they saw three familiar faces. The faces were those of the cannibals. Elliot and Tyler dove into the alley for safety as they ambled past. The children both clenched their eyes shut as the villains brushed their fingers along the bricks of the alley. Elliot felt a tear slide down his face, and then, with one high-pitched 'yelp'-it was either 'yelp' or 'help'- Tyler was gone.  
" You scoundrels!" screamed Elliot at the top of his lungs, ignoring the glaring passersby, " You bring him back! All three of you are rats! You are all dirty, conniving, malicious, thieving snakes!" Elliot's pursuit of the criminals lasted out until he tripped on a craggy rock in the sidewalk and tumbled downward. And so he got up, realizing he would probably never catch the dirty,conniving, malicious, thieving snakes.  
One Child's Journey  
Sarah stopped near a large boulder and sat down. She was going a different way than she had come. Sweat fell in bullets from her face. She was nowhere close to home. Sarah knew it would be a long trip, for the cannibals had driven them on mopeds. She looked up and saw a lone sign idling in the sand. It said,' Alburquerque Ruins, 3 miles ahead.' Sarah was curious about this subject matter. She had known from pryor knowledge that there was a city named Albuquerque many years ago in a place called America. It was one of the many cities in the former country America that had been wrecked by a terrible storm. Sarah and the other children lived in the former America, where California used to be. She did not know that there were any remaining ruins of the Spanish city. Elliot had been to the old ruins of New York on a school field trip, but had never been here. " I guess going through there is my best bet," said Sarah hopefully. Little did she know, this was the worst bet possible, because if she took through the ruins and went any further, it would take her 100 miles out of the way.  
=============================  
When she went the steep, tiresome three miles to the Ruins, she fell face forward into the harsh, scalding sand. She began to formulate a rather selfish plan where, she would stay home with Eli, and the other children would drudge along, having all sorts of terrible misfortunes. She would call in a good caretaker, one who wouldn't manipulate the children and overthrow the house. 


End file.
